1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper sheet processing apparatus in which a wrapping strap wound around a sheaf of paper sheets is automatically removed to loosen the paper sheets.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known in the prior art an apparatus which is designed to receive bundled bank notes, remove the wrapping strap from the bank notes, and prepare them for inspecting. This apparatus is used in the inspection and processing systems which execute inspections of bank notes.
As shown in FIGS. 13A to 13H, sheaf H is formed by bundling a number (for instance, 100) of bank notes C with a strap K. There are various ways of bundling bank notes C with strap K, as shown in FIGS. 13A to 13H. In these cases, strap K is not only simply round the outside of bank notes C, as in FIG. 13A, it also frequently penetrates between bank notes C, FIGS. 13B to 13H.
When strap K is removed from this sheaf H, in the conventional apparatus such as shown in Japanese Laid Open Patent (Kokai) 62-135145, strap K is cut first by cutter 1000. Then, strap K is removed by the catcher 1001 from the side of bank notes C while the catcher 1001 is gripping strap K.
However, in the case of the conventional apparatus described above, all of strap K will not be removed by the grip and transport operation of catcher 1001, since strap K was not only wrapped several times round the outside of bank notes C but also penetrated between the bank notes C. Thus, the remaining portions of strap K were transported to the inspection and processing stage for bank notes C, and there was the problem that this caused difficulties, such as jamming, in the inspection process.